The Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday released final rules for a new tax on medical devices such as surgical sutures and knee replacement implants that starts next year as part of President Obama’s healthcare law. Devicemakers should pay a 2.3 percent tax on their gross sales.

On December 4th, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma ruled that the state laws that require women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound image placed in front of them while they hear a description of the fetus and that ban off-label use of certain abortion-inducing drugs are unconstitutional.

Health officials warned last Friday of an alarming increase in HIV cases, particularly among intravenous drug users, in Athens, Greece, which suffered from a financial crisis that has led to deep budget cuts in healthcare and drug treatment programs.